Keith Pompey

Inquirer Staff Writer

Yesterday afternoon, we put further Andre Iguodala trade talk on hold in favor of analyzing Iguodala's game with Team USA. This morning, let's jump straight to the trade talk. Last night on cbssports.com, Ken Berger offered a blockbuster trade scenario involving the 76ers, Denver Nuggets, and New Jersey Nets.

Here's the key paragraph for all Sixers' fans:

"New team president Rod Thorn and GM Ed Stefanski – who formerly worked together in New Jersey – could be central to constructing a deal that would compel the Nuggets to move Anthony rather than endure a season-long distraction that ends with Anthony leaving as a free agent after the season. The key pieces of the Philadelphia equation would be the expiring contracts of Jason Kapono ($6.64 million) and Willie Green ($3.98 million), a young talent such as Thaddeus Young, and Andre Iguodala, who is coming off a solid contribution to Team USA’s gold-medal performance at the FIBA World Championships. Some executives believe the Sixers would at least discuss including No. 2 overall pick Evan Turner if it meant getting Anthony, but that would defeat the purpose of going over the luxury tax to get Anthony in the first place."

If you want to read the entire article, which is a good read, click here: Trade Scenario.

First, this is still a potential trade scenario that has not "risen to the level of discussion among the teams." Calls this morning to the Philly side of the equation immediately rejected the trade. Multiple folks said "We are not in any discussions at all," and one source with knowledge of the situation said the Sixers have talked "a little" about it internally, but feel they have no "real shot" of getting such a deal done.

With that said, it's still a pretty compelling option, and interesting to discuss. According to Berger, there are a few ways this would play out:

1.) One trade option involves a package that sends Nets draft pick Derrick Favors to the Sixers, Carmelo Anthony to the Nets, and Iguodala to Denver. Of course, these are just the main pieces. There would be others involved to make the deal work.

2.) Sixers acquire Anthony in exchange for a combination which would possibily include Kapono, Green, Young, and Iguodala. The Nets would deal Favors, some draft picks, and guard Devin Harris, with all the pieces rotating to the appropriate teams.

Here are some other points:

*Right now, the Nuggets have an extension offer to Anthony for 3 years/$65 million. So far, he's not signing it. He's said he would consider moves to the Knicks, Nets, Bulls, and Magic. We don't see the Sixers on that list. If they did pull off a trade for him, which is unlikely, would he want to re-sign with the Sixers? That's in (serious) doubt.

*Berger points out that Anthony is good friends with Allen Iverson, and cites someone close to Anthony as saying the Nuggets' star is aware of how harshly Philly can treat its sports stars.

*I've been hearing from different people this summer that Thorn, who drafted Favors with the Nets, is very high on the big man rookie, but probably not enough to give up guys like Iguodala, Young, possibly even Turner.

This trade is one of the more interesting to surface this summer, but it's also (sorry Sixers' fans who want Anthony) very unlikely to go down.